Application performance management relates to technologies and systems for monitoring and managing the performance of applications. For example, application performance management is commonly used to monitor and manage transactions performed by an application running on a server to a client.
A key piece of functionality for monitoring applications is to display the monitoring data. One example is the use of dashboards to represent data visually. In a dashboard, the data in each graph is commonly provided in the form of time-value pairs for a given metric: the time at which a measurement was taken, and the corresponding value of the metric. Frequently, a dashboard will consolidate multiple graphs for different monitoring data metrics in the same display. Often, it is necessary to provide “real-time” or “near-real-time” dashboards, where the dashboard's display is updated within a few seconds of when the measurement was taken. However, the updates for different metrics may occur at different intervals.
Unfortunately, if the consolidated dashboard is displaying the live data, then the dashboard's time axis needs to be redrawn with every new data point. If there are several metrics updating frequently, then the time axis and all the related graphs have to also be updated. As a result, the dashboard must update itself rapidly, making it difficult to view and interpret. In addition, rapid updates waste processing resources that would otherwise be used to improve system performance.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a display that can be updated in a more efficient fashion to facilitate viewing and interpretation. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a method and system that conserves processing resources.
Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features or functions. The drawings are included for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.